The first thing you must realize about law school is that, in order to succeed, you must focus on the end game. This means focusing on the exam and, more long term, focusing on how to get a good job after graduation. Any work performed that is not targeted towards these goals is a waste.

Step (1): Find out which classes give credit for class participation and which do not. Oddly enough, some professors will tell you on day one that your class participation will not affect your grade and then they complain when no one in the class participates. If the professor does not count class participation, there is no need to waste your weekends reading the assigned materials and being prepared for class each day. Even if the professor calls on you, it may be embarrassing not knowing the answer, but it really doesn’t matter because not knowing the answer will not affect your grade in any way. In those classes, your grade is solely based on the exam, so that is all you should concentrate on. Others will waste time at the end of the semester trying to catch up on reading and trying to be prepared for each day’s class. Instead, use that time more wisely to take practice tests and outline your notes so you can begin focusing on the end game immediately.

If your professor provides weight to classroom participation, make the effort to participate. In most large classes, the effort requires a simple raise of hand to ask a question or answer a question no more than once per day. No need to be a superstar here.

Just make sure that you participate often enough for the professor to know your name. In most large lectures, most people are too afraid to participate, so take advantage. Often times, it could lead to a bump or even major bump in your grade (B- can become B+, B+ can become and A-).

Since you spend so much time studying and preparing, you may as well use any break you can get. Also helpful is to attend the professor’s office hours a few times during the semester with a few questions about the course. Most students rarely show up for the hours and the professors have to be there, so take advantage of your ability to boost your grade with a little bit of effort. You are likely to add to your grade more significantly with class participation than cramming extra time studying or revising your outline a million times.

Step (2): Get a copy of the professor’s past exams. They are usually available in the library or, occasionally, the professor will provide them to you himself. See exactly what kinds of questions are asked on his exams. Are they essays, fill-ins, multiple choice, or none of the above? Knowing exactly what kinds of questions the professor will ask helps your study preparation. For example, if the exam is essay only, there is no need to memorize the minutia of every little case. You will only need to focus on the broad concepts and the seminal cases.

Step (3): Learn how to write essay answers using the IRAC method. Go to the school’s free writing center or hire a tutor. Practice writing exam questions using the professor’s old exams. Sometimes, you can even convince a professor to look at one of your sample answers in his office hours to gain an extra edge and hear exactly what the professor is looking for.

Step (4): Determine how you would like to study. Some students swear by learning in study groups; others favor learning by themselves. There is no one way better than another. Use whatever you did in high school and college and do not deviate now. If it worked then to get you into law school, it will work for you now. As an aside, if you use study groups and do not understand some issues, go to the professor during office hours and ask. Do not rely on guess answers provided by fellow students who are learning the material for the first time, as you are.

Step (5): Start preparing your outlines for each class 6 weeks before the final.
Make sure your final outline is no more than 35 pages in length. Law school exams generally test the main concepts, so any level of detail beyond 35 pages likely will not be useful for the exam and thus be a waste of your time.
Do NOT try to cram information a week before the exam. Many concepts build upon each other, so cramming (unlike in high school or college) is extremely difficult.

Step (6): Try to join Law Review/Journal and/or Moot Court. Do not join law campus activities/organizations like student senate, etc. Unlike in high school, employers do not care about extra curricular activities. All employers care about are GPA, law school rank, law review/journal, and moot court experience. You have a limited amount of time, do not waste time on activities that will not help you. Do not lose focus on the end game.

Step (7): Attend study sessions held by the professor’s assistant. Usually, the professor has an assistance who will hold a tutorial once a week on the class. The student usually has taken and excelled at the professor’s class. Use him as a resource to gain inside knowledge on the professor’s exam and grading scale.

Who cares about comparing schools? After all, the experts are constantly advising parents NOT to compare their children to each other, their cousins, friends, and neighbors. It can damage their self-esteem, causing the little darlings to feel like they don’t measure up to their parents expectations. However, comparing secondary schools for High school rankings is one situation in which kids – students – must be compared to their peers.

High school rankings are one of the main ways that experts (think teachers, administrators and school board members), community members (business leaders, parents, taxpayers), and government leaders (mayors, governors, local and state senators and representatives) determine how well a school is doing compared to its counterparts. Looking at the High school rankings gives a lot of valuable information to all of these groups.

For example, High school rankings may provide data on test scores. Knowing how different students have scored on standardized tests as compared to other students who have taken the same or at least similar tests is important. It shows how much test-based knowledge the students have acquired and retained. The High school rankings make accessing this complex information easy.

Comparing schools on the curriculum level is another way to use High school rankings for gen interest. Looking at how often a school updates its curriculum to reflect changing trends in education and updates to texts and materials will also provide perspective on what the kids are studying in preparation for the tests they take.

High school rankings may also give information on the socioeconomic levels of the students attending the high schools that are part of the High school rankings for gen interest. If a school is composed mostly of students in a middle- to high-socioeconomic background, there’s a good chance that more of those students will excel as compared to their peers who have a low-socioeconomic background. In addition, information found in High school rankings can also tell us what kind of effort schools that serve the lower end of the socioeconomic scale are putting forth.

Looking at High school rankings can give Board of Education officials insight into which schools should receive accolades for their hard work, and which schools might need more attention. While all schools deserve attention and support from their local and state education officials, there are some that need extra attention to help them raise their game. Using information gleaned from High school rankings is an easy and quick way for said officials, as well as private organizations or individual donors, to determine which schools need an extra boost.

Analyzing High school rankings over a period of years will also show how much improvement individual schools or districts have made, and how the extra attention given to struggling schools, as identified by the High school rankings For Gen Interest, has helped.

As a certified personal trainer & gym owner, I am very much concerned about the effects of steroids in our youth, especially high school athletes. I know what the negative effects of taking steroids are, not only physically but mentally and socially as well.
Steroids are the performance-enhancing substances that have caused more losses than wins in the life of High School athletes. “We have a serious steroids problem among our country’s youth.” Stated California state senator Jackie Speier, a Democrat from the Bay Area
Different reasons were raised why many adolescents use or abuse steroids.
1. To improve their athletic performance. Many athletes saw recourse to use performance enhancer substances because the pressure to win is enormous.
2. To increase their muscle size or to reduce their body fat. This group is suffering from the behavioral syndrome called muscle dysmorphia, people who think they have distorted figure. It is so alarming because according to a study, 9-to-11-year-old females use steroids to enhance their build too.
3. Part of a pattern of high-risk behaviors. Like the thrill that they get from drinking and driving, driving a motorcycle without a helmet, carrying a gun, and abusing other illicit drugs, taking steroids give that adrenaline they can’t explain.

How to Determine Steroid Abusers
Individuals who abuse steroids can experience withdrawal symptoms (like many other prohibited drugs) when they stop taking steroids, such as mood swings, restlessness, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, reduced sex drive, and steroid cravings. Depression is the most dangerous of the withdrawal symptoms, because oftentimes it leads to suicide attempts.

What can be done to prevent steroid abuse?
According to the researchers who do the study on steroid educational programs, it has shown that simply teaching students about steroids’ undesirable effects does not convince them that they can be adversely affected, nor does such teaching discourage young people from taking steroids in the future. But presenting both the risks and benefits of using anabolic steroid is more effective in convincing them about steroids’ negative effects, apparently because the student-athletes find a balanced approach more credible.

Thanks to the effort of some groups and individuals like the New Anti-Steroid Measures that are being implemented in California and they are:
o A written policy that ban steroid use in which must be signed by all student-athletes and their parents/guardian. Violators would be subject to school penalties.
o Mandated training and education in muscle-building dietary supplements and steroids for the state’s coaches to help them spot steroid use and warn the players about the health dangers.
o A strict prohibition on school sponsorships from any muscle-building supplements. Encouraging or distributing muscle-building supplements from any school staff members would lead a ban for them. Violators would deal to personnel actions by their schools or districts.
Another thing is about the Adolescent Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids Program (ATLAS). It was designed to reduce the use of anabolic steroids among high school athletes. The program combined weight-training and classroom sessions, to teach students about nutrition, strength training, and risk factors for steroid use.

The Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives (ATHENA) program was modeled after the ATLAS program, but designed for adolescent athlete girls. Early study of girls enrolled in this program showed significant decreases in risky behaviors. ATHENA team members were more likely to wear seatbelts, less likely to ride in a car with a driver who had been drinking, less likely to be sexually active, and they experienced fewer injuries during the sports season.

With these initiatives for stopping the use of steroids in our young athletes, let’s make our own efforts, parents and guardians, to monitor closely our youngster and educate them in the caring informative way before it was too late…

Real Andrews is an actor by profession who is very passionate about the health and wellness industry, a Certified Personal Trainer & Gym Owner. He is very passionate about making a difference in the State of health in our Country. Visit his blog for more health-related articles.